Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

Hello David: I agree that now the focus goes to the Internet. But what does this say about mass media? People are tuning out; it's lost its credibility. This latest FCC ruling is the final blow.

Doc is precisely right when he says that bloggers now are the stringers for the New York Times. Why is it that the Times is now regularly doing feature pieces about blogging?

This last gulf war was an embarrassment for the network news services. Notice how NPR turned to the BBC, an many did, to get a fair take. They had embedded reporters, who willingly drank the purple Kool-Aid and passed along stories like the major misstatement of the circumstance of Jessica Lynch's capture and torture.

Also, how will the major news corporation censor the Internet? They'll slant their news web sites, but how will they censor each and every blog?

Fact is, the American public is resigned to the inability of mass media to allow intelligent debate on issues of free speech, especially when they slide in a graphic of the latest reality spot-the-looney show.

If Edward R. Murrow were alive today he'd find his forum in a blog and not on a Fox News program. In the 50's, he took down Joe McCarthy on commercial television; that couldn't happen today.

BK

Well, I tend to want to agree with Bill that people are being turned off and are, in turn, turning off.

I'm not sure that it's true, merely because I'm doing it.

I've spent the last six months immersing myself in Net culture, trying very hard to learn 'code' and the ins and outs of digital technology, blogging etc - believe me I'm old and slow and late to the game - and have basically shut out the old media for that period of time - and for me what was a way of life (and, as a means, a decent living).

Every once in a while I happen upon a radio signal or television programme or a newspaper column - whatever - and my brain goes into involuntary hyper deconstruct mode. (My brain has been rehardwired, I think) Not only does everything appear to be awful - insincere, condescending, STUPID - its construct comes off as laughably 'inhuman' and monotonous.

There is nothing permanent in the FCC decision. It is merely a human construct, like a wall, an edict invoked by an unelected bureaucracy that protects and allows a small band of individuals by dint of their fiscal capital to moderate communication. The pejorative use of the word 'deregulation' is the ultimate oxymoron. It's monospeak for 'we will regulate the conversation.'

Walls fall.

The Berlin wall fell. People desired freedom and truth. The Soviet order was monolithic and collapsed under the weight of its own (economic) unsustainability. But there are (were) two parts to that equation. The second and often forgotten part? The desire on the part of a small and determined band of indivduals - the keepers of the samizdat, let's call them - who kept the light of truth and freedom burning.

It may seem ludicrous to suggest that the US is beginning to resemble the old Soviet Union. But there is - and there will be - an increasing movement to the Monotone. For the time being.

Perhaps the Berlin Wall is a poor symbol. People clamouring to get out. Perhaps the 'Walls of Jericho' is a better symbol. People trumpeting their horns, clamouring for the walls to come tumbling down.

Human capital and the desire to be social trumps fiscal capital and its desire for compliance, in time, every time. It's human nature. It's in our code.

The wheel turns. Squeak!

Commissioner Copps of the FCC gave a chilling speech last week on the danger to the Internet by some at the FCC who would like nothing better than to see those who own the Internet "pipes" (cable and phone monopolies) be able to control the content Internet users see. Read the speech at www.fcc.gov.

A blogger named Jay Bryant wrote a great piece about Copps' speech, and the dangers to bloggers if corporate interests start controlling the choke points to the Internet www.theoptimate.com. Pretty scary stuff.